The Snapt3 Premiere Was Absolutely Gangbusters

Snapt3. #Snapt3. @snapt3.

We’ve been seeing this everywhere lately. Last night, we found out why.

Snapt3, as its name implies, is the third installment of the Snapt surf film series that began in 2005. The movies have been primarily filmed, directed, and produced by Logan Dulien, a man who recently overcame his prescription pill addiction to reconnect with his love for surfing. 

Snapt 3 was Logan’s revival project, and perhaps his magnum opus. If nothing else, it was the biggest and best party HB has seen all week. And that’s pretty impressive, considering the $10 cover. 

So how did Logan get hundreds of people to pay for a surf movie premiere – a typically free commodity during HB’s summer festivities?

The power of social media is infinite. With enough push from the right people, any scheme can go from dormant to viral within a matter of hours. That’s how Snapt3 boiled to a near-volcanic eruption. Constant and impassioned plugs from the world’s most respected waveriders.  

Le trailer.

This wasn’t a sponsor obligation. It wasn’t a guilt trip. They wanted to be there, and then so did we.

The doors opened at 8, and by 8:15 The Observatory was pulsing. There were three functioning bars, food carts, multiple DJs, and finely dressed gentlefolk occupying the lot of it.

Around 9, Distractor, a local band whose sound could be described as hipster-folk, enticed the crowd with upbeat tunes and a mesmerizing hoola-hooper on stage left. Following that was a surprise cameo from Andre Nickatina, the Bay Area’s OG rap-cat.

That $10 entry fee started to feel unreasonably low.

A moment occurred when Chad Towersey (@ocinstanews) took the stage alongside Andre. Not knowing anything of Chad or his zany antics, Andre gave the phone-wielding man one look, snagged his device, and sent it into the crowd with a limp-wristed chuck. We laughed, Chad saluted, the party commenced.

Finally, at 10:45, Snapt3 burst onto the screen. It was fast. It was powerful. It was a nostalgic ode to the early 2000s – arguably the golden era of performance-based surf films.

This movie will appeal to the core surf fan. There are no frills; no Super-8; no Joe G motifs; no Kai Neville “art”. To enjoy this film, you’ll need an appreciation for pure, high-performance surfing with a distinctly non-alternative tone.  

It concluded with Mason’s never-ending Desert Point pit, followed by another surprise performance by Snapt3’s celebrity mascot, Dirt Nasty. He intoxicated the masses with songs about penises and cocaine, because… how else would you conclude an evening of this magnitude?

Like it was 1980!